


Death Wishes and Deadly Kisses

by C0rrupt3dF1l35



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27039562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C0rrupt3dF1l35/pseuds/C0rrupt3dF1l35
Summary: Nathan Declan is starting his first year of college when he's contacted by the local police. A deceased childhood friend has popped up again and, mixed with the odd dreams he's been having, Nathan isn't too certain on the accuracy of that label.
Kudos: 1





	1. This Has To Be A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Idk how many chapters this story will have, but so far it's got quite a few.

There's an old graveyard beside a park I used to play in as a child. It hasn’t been used in decades and from what I can see, no one’s visited it in years. The graves are mossy, cracked and some are so worn from time that their names and stories are unrecognizable.

When I was a kid, I used to roam these old grounds. I wasn’t aware of the concept of death and I surely wasn’t aware that underneath these sculpted boulders wasn’t just dirt. So, without a second glance of where I was stepping, I would tidy up this forgotten court. I’d pick up trash, decorate the graves with wild flowers and sometimes play with the little boy who’d sit in the same spot each day I came. 

He didn’t talk much but he was a good listener. He’d listen to me about my problems, which mostly consisted of 3rd grader drama and how my best friend had given the pink cupcake to my “crush” instead of the blue one. Kids my age never had many problems.

I asked his name once, but all he said was that he’d tell me later. I never really asked again, I think I just forgot.

One day, after school, my parents sat me down in our small living room. I actually wouldn’t call it a living room, we lived in a one room apartment so everything was sort of bunched together. Our “kitchen” consisted of a mini fridge, a rice cooker and a box where we stored our instant ramen packs.

When they sat me down on our ‘mystery stained’ couch, which also counted as my bed, I could tell something was wrong. 

At first I figured it was something to do with my grades or maybe auntie was sick again but then my dad broke the silence between the three of us and told me something no kid wanted to hear.

“We’re getting a divorce.”

There was a kid in my 2nd grade class whose parents were divorced, I think his name was Justin. He was a quiet kid and never really spoke up in class or raised his hand. I went over to his house one day and his parents were still living together as they worked out the arrangements. They argued the entire time and eventually his dad told him to get out of the house. I went home after that.

When I heard what my parents said, it took me a moment to process it. I felt the pressure build up behind my eyes and felt my face get all hot. I remember that I started crying and then I began yelling at them. I didn’t want them to end up like Justin’s parents and I couldn’t understand why they didn’t love each other anymore. 

I never saw them fight or raise their voice at one another. My dad wasn’t abusive, my mom didn’t do drugs and I wasn't aware of any other woman or man in either of their lives.

I remember storming out of our apartment and down the hall. I exited the building, ignoring Mr. Jen-my favourite janitor-calling after me.

I sprinted down the road, the cold October air stinging my nose and drying up my eyes. I don't recall much after that but I was told years later by my mom on a drunken night that I had been found at the graveyard crying my eyes out. I had been found sitting beside a boy- A dead, rotting carcass that reeked like roadkill and had maggots cleaning out what chunks of muscle remained on the old bones.

But I was too young to be told any more disturbing details- or to remember any of them, at least. I’m starting college soon and my parents still never told me what happened to the boy’s body. Instead, I’ve been left alone with my questions, left to draw my own conclusions and eventually develop a fascination with the supernatural. What else could explain me never noticing that I was talking to literal roadkill- or that said roadkill had spoken back?

“And that’s all you know?”

“Yes, Officer Karthy, that's all I know. That's all I remember. Can I go home now?”

Seven hours ago, the police had come to my father’s house, looking for me. Apparently there have been multiple reported sightings of my old friend by his family members and his own childhood friends. 

The first couple of sightings were passed off as sick pranks or delusional, mourning parents. But by the time the reports began piling up, the police started asking around to know exactly what everyone was seeing. I-being the boy who was found beside the kid in question-was one of the first to be questioned. So, here I sat, in front of a woman named Jacelyn Karthy, spilling everything I ever knew about the boy who was supposed to be dead.


	2. Everything I Never Wanted.

Today was orientation day at my college and my mom wanted to come with me. She practically pleaded with me to let her see where I would be studying, dorming and living for the next 4 years. I was lucky enough to talk her out of it and caught a ride with my friend, Sera, who had started a year early.

Sera had the stereotypical asian parents who pushed her into any and all tutoring programs and extra curriculars. It only made sense for her to be accepted a year early into the college of her dreams, with a full ride at that. But it doesn’t make any sense how I got in. I made below average grades, never really participated in sports because of my asthma and didn’t enroll in any performing arts program. So how in the world did I- oh yeah. My dad is rich as all hell.

After he divorced my mom, his life practically skyrocketed. He married a gorgeous, rich woman- although I’d say she's a bit young for him- and scored a job that paid millions. He’s a sweet man, though, always wanted me to succeed and gave me only the best. Which is why I’m fairly certain he bribed the dean into accepting me here. To a school that groomed already excelling students into prize winning scholars.

“Earth to Nathan!”

I was harshly slammed out of my thoughts by Sera just as harshly slamming on the brakes of her Neon yellow, graffitied Tesla. Her car was a dumpster fire to say the least. The inside smelled like ramen and the tears of a stressed college student. The exterior was.. Well she painted and “decorated” it herself so I guess she likes it and I guess that's all that matters.

“JESUS FUCK SERA! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU," I shouted as I was just barely able to stop myself from bashing my head against the dashboard.

“Yeah whatever man,” Shoving her foot back down on the gas, Sera grinned and snorted as we sped down the street.

“You thinking about all the hot babes you’ll be getting? Cuz ladies really dig guys with a bleach blonde mullet and braces”

“Ohh, right in the insecurities-” I theatrically threw my hand to my chest. “-Well what about you? Can’t imagine guys lining up to get a look at.. Oh I don’t even have the heart to say it”

I bit back a laugh and feigned pity. 

In retaliation, Sera punched me in the arm. She took karate when she was 13, causing me to get a knuckle sandwich every time I said something even remotely offensive. Is that abuse?

The ride from my house to school was actually pretty long so we mostly just talked as we drove. Sera had welded off the roof to her car- somehow- so, with Toxic by Britney Spears playing in the background, we drove with the nice August wind assaulting our faces and traumatizing our hair.

“Anymore dreams about him?” Once again, I was cut from my internal monologue by Sera’s voice. 

It was smooth and deep, like she practically lived on tea with honey, but every now and then she’d have her occasional voice crack and I obviously have to make fun of that. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?

“None lately. It’s like, ever since people started spotting him, he’s been in my dreams less and less”

I’ve been having these sort of “meetings” with the boy in question every time I fall asleep. They usually don’t make much sense, just some random nonsense like me being a child again or us being at disneyland. A little weird but nothing ever came of it. Yet, my last dream, he actually told me something.

“I’ll be back soon”

That’s when the spottings started getting intense. 

Sera passed me a look that I couldn’t quite decipher and kept driving.

Eventually we entered the parking lot, took a handicap spot and got out. Sera is technically handicapped. She’s prone to seizures, even though they only ever happened when she was a kid, so she has a license and uses it whenever she can. I can't exactly complain, though, I'd be lying if I said it never came in handy.

Sera and I were met with a gust of cold air when we walked into the building, like serious cold air. It was freezing in here. One of the staff welcomed us in and told us where to go. Well, mostly me because Sera had already been there for about a year so I guess they recognized her.

“To the left is the auditorium, where the principal will be giving his yearly speech pretty soon and to the right are the clubs and after school activity sign ups,” The staff, who’s name tag says Perry, motioned to the left and right.

He looked extremely bored like he’s given this speech about a million times and will have to give it a million more, “Just up ahead you’ll see the stairs, go up them and you’ll see most of your classes. I suggest you check out the club sign ups, Principal Macnum won’t be giving his speech for a while now”

Man I almost feel bad for the guy. Not the staff, but the principal. His last name is Macnum? I can’t help but think of those magnum condoms you see fully stocked at cvs. 

I looked to the right and saw a ton of booths and fake smiles behind every single one. Sera assured me that it was a waste of time trying to join a club because the second you walk in there, every recruiter will try and get a piece of you. 

“They’re like cults,” She warned. I voted to believe her.

Looking to the left, I saw the auditorium doors wide open, held by chalkboard signs with welcome messages and ‘inspirational quotes’ written on them. Someone crossed out Mr. Macnum’s name with red chalk and wrote “Mr. Mancum” underneath. Sera and I couldn’t help but giggle to each other.

There were a lot of people in the auditorium, most looked like freshmans but I saw a couple older years in there. I’ve never seen so many bored and serious faces, I can already tell this place is going to be an absolute party.

I decided to drag Sera along and as I went to check out the upstairs area. Perry was right, it was littered with classrooms that were all bunched together. It’s like they didn’t have the budget for another building. We walked down the halls as the busy sounds from downstairs faded out and all we could hear were our own footsteps echoing through these empty and cold corridors.

Click.. Clack clack.. Click.. Clack.. Click click..

I began to hear an unsteady pair of footsteps walking around. It sounded like the clicking of heels. It may have been a professor, but Sera told me none of them came on orientation day. I’m just hoping I’m not getting some creepy old lady as a teacher, I already know the sounds of those heels are going to haunt my nightmares.

“Sera, do you hear that?” I decided to ask her in case I was tripping on the cold, hallway air. It’s like someone packed boxes of ice behind the vents.

“All I hear is your breathing, stop walking so close behind me!” She grinned and went to shove me away.

But I wasn’t behind her. I was walking next to her, almost ahead. Something else was breathing down her neck and I was beginning to feel it too. Once we both realized it wasn’t me, Sera sent me a chilling look and we ran. We ran so fast down those halls that when we stopped, we didn’t even know if we were still on the second floor. All we know is that Sera didn’t feel the breathing and I couldn’t hear those horrid heels anymore. 

“What the actual hell” We both wheezed in unison as we caught our breath. Staring at each other, convinced we were thinking the same thing, “This place is haunted.”

“Wait, no, that's delusional!” Sera shook her head. She’s always been the reasonable one, even when I smashed my “stepmom’s” expensive vase. Sera was right there to calm me down because, honestly, I thought she was going to murder me and use my bones to sculpt a new one.

“Is it? No one was behind us yet we felt breathing, how do you explain that?” Trick question, you can’t.

“Maybe it was the vent, cmon, think rationally.”

“It was hot, Sera. Hot breath, and I don’t know if you've noticed but it's frickin’ freezing in here,” I was beginning to panic. On top of adhd, my mom tells me I panic very easily, which was later diagnosed as chronic anxiety. 

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say frickin’. Listen, how about we just focus on getting back to the main entrance and think about this over some, oh I dunno..” A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, “Cheese fries and arcade games?”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“Says the one with the mullet,” Sera reached up and ruffled my hair. I was at least two feet taller than her, even more now considering I’m wearing doc martin platform shoes. Man, I really have to update my wardrobe.

“Fine, I admit, that does sound a lot better than hanging around here.”

It took us about an hour to find our way back down. It was like these halls were trying to keep us here. When we got back, the speech was over and people were beginning to file out. I’m just hoping we didn’t miss anything important.

Sera and I pretended we were downstairs the whole time and talked to each other about how amazing the speech was. It wasn’t very convincing considering the amount of snickers we got as we passed through the crowd. Or maybe it was just because of me. 

Sera had told me to dress casual but not too casual. So, I wore a tan trench coat- unbuttoned, of course- one of those tuxedo shirts and some ripped up black skinny jeans. It was mainly to embarrass Sera but, right now, I was the one who was embarrassed. I look like I just stepped into my dad’s closet, then my little siblings and then my mother’s, throwing together an outfit that screamed “punch me!”

To top it off, I just got my braces tightened so one of my cheeks are unnaturally swollen. My dentist assured me that was normal but I’m not so sure.

“Aye, dork. Chill out, will ya? You look like you just committed a crime” Sera elbowed me in the side, causing me to stumble, trip over my own shoes and land face first at the feet of an older year.

“Oh- bruh, you good?” As I pathetically got up, I was met with two dudes. One looked younger than the other and had crispy brown hair, like he just got down dyeing it for the 5th time this week. 

He wore a nike’s hoodie, white vans that had a pretty nice sunset painted on them and some gray sweats. He had these hazel eyes that paired well with his carmel skin, they were almost hypnotizing. He couldn’t help but laugh a little, I don’t blame him.

“Oh, yeah, I’m alright”

Dusting myself off, despite the floors looking relatively clean, I looked at the guy whose shoes I had practically made out with.

He was taller than the other, yet shorter than me by at least a couple inches. Shaggy black hair brushed over his eyes and pale skin. He looked like he just got back from a My Chemical Romance concert. He wore gray converse and shorts that looked like they were once pants but were ripped up so badly that they were unwillingly turned into shorts, and a sweater. Just a normal sweater. He was dressed almost as badly as I was. 

“Heyy, sorry man, didn’t mean to give your boots a spit n’ shine,” I snorted at my own joke, no one else did. I should become a comedian one day.

He didn’t say anything so there was this uncomfortable silence that dragged on for way too long as he just stared at me. At least I think he stared at me, I can’t tell with his bangs in the way.

“Trust me, it’s chill bruh. I’m Casey n’ that’s my buddy, A.J. He don't talk much but I’m sure ‘e forgives ya” The shorter of the two, Casey, broke the silence. He spoke in a southern accent and sounded pretty laid back.

Before I could give any sort of reply, Sera bursted into our little conversation.

“Aye, numb nuts, are we going or what?” I’m pretty sure that if Sera wasn’t my best friend, she’d be a ruthless bully.

I rolled my eyes at her and tossed Casey and A.J a peace sign before Sera dragged me off and out the door. Any more forcefully and this could be considered a kidnapping.

“Okay, okay, don’t shoot!” I put my hands up defensively as she pushed me into the car. The last bit got a couple odd looks from people passing by, “What's wrong? You jealous or something?”

As she got in the driver’s seat, she simply rolled her eyes and started the car.

“You know who those guys are?” She turned to ask me as she backed out of her parking space. God, I wish she would just keep her eyes on the road. Sera is seriously going to hit someone one day and she’s lucky the last person didn’t press charges because of how young she was.

“Not in the slightest,” Because Sera refuses to be a safe driver, I’ve taken the responsibility of making sure we don’t get in a car accident, or worse, hit another old man.

She didn’t say anything else, just backed out of the lot and started driving. Maybe it was just from our paranormal experience, but I feel like something bad is about to happen. I mean, since when does anything good come out of barely escaping a haunted hallway.

Pulling up to the arcade, we noticed a closing sign posted up on the door. This arcade was around before I was even born. My dad told stories about when he went there after school, basically it’s been around forever. 

It’s decked out in old fashioned games, some of which are now banned from anymore being distributed. It’s got a bunch of old, falling apart posters of bands that have long since broken up and video games labeled “Recently Released!” despite the fact that they were released decades ago and the hype is almost as dead as the guy who owns this arcade. I swear he’s got to be over a hundred. 

The arcade usually smells of nachos or popcorn and the bathrooms are absolutely wrecked half the time. Despite all that, Sera and I come here everyday. We made a rule that, when we’re at the arcade, we must have fun. It was mostly a joke but it was put in place at a time where my parents were still early in their divorce and Sera’s parents were stricter than they usually are. It’s died down now that she got into the college of their dreams but they still nag every now and then.

We would come here to escape life because, when you stepped into that arcade, it’s like you went back in time. It’s why we like it so much because being in there is like being in a place before any shit hit the fan. 

But now, as we read the closing sign on the door, we’re beginning to realize that we might just lose our only escape, even if we don’t need it as much anymore.

“They’re closing!?” I exclaimed in disbelief, “But why?”

“I mean, it's an old, rotting arcade. Sure we loved it and spent money here, but I don’t think two people going here everyday is enough to keep it open.” Sometimes I really hate how realistic Sera is.

I groaned in frustration, as we walked back to her car. This is so unfair, “Now what are we going to do?”

“Coke?”

“Sera no.”

We drove around for a little bit before stopping at a Denny's, it was 7 pm when we got there. Sera was the first one to point out how she didn’t recognize this Denny’s, or anything around it for that matter. 

"We've been driving for a while,” I said. We were so caught up in the conversation we were having, which ranged from the experience back at the college to what we were planning on doing later in life, that we hardly paid attention to where we were going.

“Are we in a different town?” Sera asked as she looked around. Everything was so different from what we were used to. Strange plants were growing straight out of the concrete sidewalk and every building around us looked abandoned beyond belief. Except this Denny’s. It was lit up, people were in there and as we stood at the door, we could see waiters and waitresses passing us odd looks.

“Lets just go in,” Sera took my arm and we walked into the restaurant. 

It was freezing inside, just like the college. No one seemed to mind however, some people were even wearing tank tops and shorts as if it was the middle of summer. 

A waitress waved us over a little too eagerly. We walked over to her.

“Hi, hello! Welcome to Denny’s, may I have your names?” She gave us a toothy grin. Why do I get the feeling we shouldn’t be here and since when do they ask us for our names?

Before Sera could answer, I spoke first.

“Ah, table for two please?" I avoided the question. I was getting serious weird vibes about this place and would rather eat gas station food than spend another minute here.


End file.
